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According to one of my duck books, exposure to water over their backs at an early age (three days) activates a duck’s oil gland. That way, as they lose their baby fuzz and their new feathers come in, they already have a functioning oil gland, and can waterproof themselves. If this is not done, the oil gland does not activate until the ducks are about 8 weeks old. In my mind, waterproofing = better insulated, so the sooner the better. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy first day of Spring!
Yup, that’s a honey bee! Not one of mine, unfortunately.
The calendar says March 4th. The ground says early spring. I’ve got chives coming up, California poppies reseeding, daffodils pushing up flower buds, violets blooming, fruit tree buds swelling, silver maple blooming. There is the faintest tinge of green, if you squint and get the light just right, on the line of “wind break” willows that line two sides of our property. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m new to seed saving. I have known the basics for years. That you need to save seed from open pollinated plants, not hybrids, if you want the seed to come true. That the technique for saving the seed differs depending on the plant. I’ve even saved seed from a few things – a high elevation variety of flour corn, a short season southwestern chile pepper, a runner bean.
But I have always gardened in relatively small spaces. And I’m a big believer in biointensive gardening, so I tend to pack a lot of vegetables into the allotted space, even when I have room. I also often plant more than one variety of any given vegetable. Heck, I’m planning on planting 18 varieties of tomatoes and tomatillos this year! Read the rest of this entry »
Years ago, I helped train volunteers to guide kids on outdoor educational nature walks. It was an intense 17 hour, three day training. Accompanying this hands-on information overload was a large three ringed binder. Volunteers were expected to understand and be able to replicate the information it contained. To lessen the pressure, interspersed throughout were funny or inspiring quotes and sayings. Things like “first you pee, then you see” to remind volunteers that if their charges hadn’t had their basic needs met, they were not going to pay much attention on the trail. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the center of the gravel driveway.
Well, after about 2 1/2 months of no rain, we’ve had more than 2 inches in the last few weeks. Aside from the wet, the weather has generally been in the 60’s to 70’s during the day, which means that lots and lots of cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) and storksbill are germinating like crazy. Areas of the pasture that were totally brown a few weeks ago now look like a golf course. Read the rest of this entry »
This was taken looking in the side rear view mirror. That’s Loki (still alive – but getting uglier by the day), in the background. Thor LOVED to go in the truck.
When my husband and I first got married, we moved to Parker Arizona for my husband’s new job. Parker is on the Arizona/California border below Lake Havasu. We lived there for 2 1/2 years. From about May 15th to October 15th, it was over 100 degrees EVERY DAY.
My husband happened to work right next door to the tribal animal control office, and so over the course of that 2 1/2 years, we ended up adopting three dogs. One was a great dane/lab mix named Thor. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of owning or being around a Dane, you know that they are the sweetest dogs around. Thor was super sweet. He was also not super smart. And being 120 lbs and the darkest colored of all of our dogs, he suffered the most in the heat. He’d be standing there panting in the shade, and my husband or I would say in our “Thorbie” voice, “Gosh it’s hot”. We swore that he got about 10% smarter when we moved to cooler weather in Colorado. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, summer is in full swing. I’m doing two farmers markets a week. The garden is coming on strong. The weeds and grass are high. It’s getting hard to tell the chickens born this spring apart from the older hens. The ducks are starting to molt into their final adult plumage. And the turkey…well, he’s just funny looking.
Do you ever have one of those days when you just feel crabby, for no apparent reason? Well, last Saturday was like that for me. Every little slight was like itching powder on my brain. I’m generally a pretty calm even keeled person, so this was a bit unusual for me, and I must say, I kind of embraced it. Sometimes, it just feels good to throw a shoe into your closet door. Grin. Read the rest of this entry »
Can you find the chicken in this picture?
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MilesAwayFarm
Miles Away Farm Blog 